I study how populations of neurons collectively encode information present in their inputs and how they perform computations on these signals. The brain performs several classes of computation including signal comparison, prediction, error correction, and learning. To investigate these phenomena, I work with experimentalists on a variety of systems: predictive coding in the retina and visual cortex of the rodent, motion coding in area MT, and temporal coding in the zebra finch song system. From these studies, several general principles have emerged, which guide my current research: the hypothesis that neurons are optimized to predict their future inputs, that information in neural populations is represented combinatorially, and that coding in sensori-motor systems is highly dynamic and behaviorally dependent. By working closely with experimentalists, we constrain and test these theories of neural population coding with detailed measurements.
Princeton University
Princeton, NJ
Postdoctoral - Neuroscience
2012
University of California San Francisco
San Francisco, CA
Postdoctoral - Neuroscience
2005
University of Oxford
England, UK
DPhil - Theoretical Physics
2001
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI
BS - Chemical Physics
1997
Genetic, developmental, and neural changes underlying the evolution of butterfly mate preference.
Genetic, developmental, and neural changes underlying the evolution of butterfly mate preference. PLoS Biol. 2025 Mar; 23(3):e3002989.
PMID: 40067994
Stimulus-invariant aspects of the retinal code drive discriminability of natural scenes.
Stimulus-invariant aspects of the retinal code drive discriminability of natural scenes. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2024 Dec 24; 121(52):e2313676121.
PMID: 39700141
Stimulus invariant aspects of the retinal code drive discriminability of natural scenes.
Stimulus invariant aspects of the retinal code drive discriminability of natural scenes. bioRxiv. 2024 Jul 18.
PMID: 37609259
Perceptual Resolution of Ambiguity: Can Tuned, Divisive Normalization Account for both Interocular Similarity Grouping and Difference Enhancement.
Perceptual Resolution of Ambiguity: Can Tuned, Divisive Normalization Account for both Interocular Similarity Grouping and Difference Enhancement. bioRxiv. 2024 Jun 26.
PMID: 38617235
Synchrotron-source micro-x-ray computed tomography for examining butterfly eyes.
Synchrotron-source micro-x-ray computed tomography for examining butterfly eyes. Ecol Evol. 2024 Apr; 14(4):e11137.
PMID: 38571794
Stimulus invariant aspects of the retinal code drive discriminability of natural scenes.
Stimulus invariant aspects of the retinal code drive discriminability of natural scenes. bioRxiv. 2023 Aug 12.
PMID: 37609259
Learning low-dimensional generalizable natural features from retina using a U-net.
Learning low-dimensional generalizable natural features from retina using a U-net. Adv Neural Inf Process Syst. 2022 Dec; 35:11355-11368.
PMID: 37362058
Gaussian Information Bottleneck and the Non-Perturbative Renormalization Group.
Gaussian Information Bottleneck and the Non-Perturbative Renormalization Group. New J Phys. 2022 Mar; 24(3).
PMID: 35368649
Spatially displaced excitation contributes to the encoding of interrupted motion by a retinal direction-selective circuit.
Spatially displaced excitation contributes to the encoding of interrupted motion by a retinal direction-selective circuit. Elife. 2021 06 07; 10.
PMID: 34096504
Maximally efficient prediction in the early fly visual system may support evasive flight maneuvers.
Maximally efficient prediction in the early fly visual system may support evasive flight maneuvers. PLoS Comput Biol. 2021 05; 17(5):e1008965.
PMID: 34014926